Butte semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1886-1890, 1887-01-05
HOW THEY MAKE BEER.

HOW THEY MAKE BEER.
From the Hop.feld to the F0amini
Draught Amid Music, Mirth
and Beauty.
How many OF The MlNER'sereaders hav'
ever thought or inquired, while they sa'
over their mugs of foaming lager, how thu
nectar of Old Gambrinus is made? Well. 8
MINER reporter last Wednesday accepted
the Invitation OF DAM Gamer, a jovia
member OF the firm of Schmidt & Gamer
and seated in q furlined cutter and abso
lutely enveleped in skins and furs, rode
out to the Centennial Brewery to learn
HOW THEY MAKE BEER.
Arrived at the great building, or rather
cluster of buildings, following the lead o
Mr.. Gamer and his right bower at the
brewery, Ben Schlegel, bearing Il flaming
light, the reporter began his exploration, ar
outline OF which is given as the first lesson
offered by The MINER during this the new
year.
The brewer lays in a large stock OF barley
which the Centennial people procure from
! Northern Montana and Washington Terri.
tory. The barley is put in q great tub Of
water and soaked. Then it is spread out
in a room until it sprouts, then placed over
a perforated iron floor to dry. When dried
the sugar contained in it remains and the
grain is then run through a crusher. OF
roller. The temperature Of the drying
I----. l. -I-.A 1l>- I~-A T~L.n-hAs%
Adjoining the drying room is the suit m.
Here are cold and hot water tanks, hold
ing the former, ITO barrels, the latter Is
barrels, also q great kettle for boiling the
beer at the proper stage of it's manufac-
ture. This kettle is heated bysteam which
is driven through tubes by a silent but
powerful Westinghouse engine, all over and
| about the immense buildings and utilized
in various ways. The kettle has a double
bottom to prevent scalding or burning the
grain or liquid as the case may be. 1t
boils ~thirty-six barrels at a time. When
the boiling process is ended the liquid is
forced into coolers where the process of
fermentation is gone through with. This
that is put IN the boiled lager. The
proportion used is one If the secrets
OF the trade. but it cleanses the
liquid OF all imperfections and leaves it
bright, clear and sparkling. The fuel used
is wood and coke.
In the brewing proper one first sees an
immense trough filled with running hot
water in which hundredf of kegs are being
worked and scalded to be placed in tiers
for use. Here also are dozens OF casks
holding from 1s to 100 barrele. In the
fermenting room stand great nnmbers of
immense tubs into which the liquid is
R-.o1l <L-@,,ul -s,,oe H. Az RAIL- ~-:~4 ~$f
in another apartment busy at it's silent
work. Alook into one OF these fermentiDg
tubs where the yeast made of hops import
ed from Bohemia in great sack. like cotton
bales, reminds one of the cider mills in the
Atlantic states when the sweet cider is
working" In an adjoining room are large
tanks to hold thelager when the fermenting
process is over and it has settled, cooled
and been drawn off. There are long rows
OF these tanks in a large cellar They
hold from 40 to los barrels. and carpen-
tiers are busy all the time making new ones
OF the 1O5-barrel size. From these great
tanks the lager, now ready for use, is drawn
through alright tubes and forced into the
ordinary "beer kegs" by steam. Then the
keg il almost Theoretically sealed and away
it goes to market.
The capacity OF the Centennial Brewery
is 35 barrels daily, working one shift OF
men; with two shifts it il double, or 70
barrels daily. From Is to 20 men. all
told, are kept busy. Helena, Garrison,
Philipsburg, Dillon. Melrose,
Glendale, Twin Britches," Silver Star,
Missoula and various other Montana
are supplied with Butte-made beer,
and numerous orders are on hand for it
from Idaho, which will be filled in the
To fill these orders the proprietors
q - yran IN n ~ ,,~,,r,,o1 ~,,-~%:k, ~ .~-l
winter beer"
The brewery building is 1~5Ox14Ofeet, two
and three stories high, with cellars, rooms
and closets lying about loose in the dun
darkness that pervades the ma
Iority OF the rooms. The 'cooler' is a
curiosity and is the latest patent. Near |
is a private storage room where hops, |
barley etc. are kept. Great quantities of
ice are used by the brewery; this season
over 0 ions will be put up.
Mr.. Gamer explained to the reporter
interesting matters, secrets of the
which are private property,
'e given in a newspaper, but the reporter
lots more practical chemistry when
Re EN- 'rged from that building than
hen he left school. 1.-THE main thing, said
iamer, ARE cleanliness and care. Unclean
'eer is unfit for hogs, while a carels IS
brewer will never make good beer. The
is mainly that it will be burned, or
leated too long, or not long enough.
Vatchfulness and care are the secrets next to
leanlines. And yon see how both are pro-
ided for here" And it is true. as he said:
here is nothing dirty in a place where hum
reds OF barrels of water can be scattered
. a over anything in any part OF
he numerous rooms.
Outside and around the brewery is a
tile village which the reporter will call
CeDtennialville." The houses are neat
nd mostly occupied by employees of the
rm. and the lands about it, shaped like a
a~rallelogram, containing about Is
We acres. About 100 yards east from the
rewery is the
BOTTLlNG HOUSE.
This, too, is a curiosity. 1t is 79x5O
two stories high, with large cellar to
;ore bottled goods OF every conceivable ,
ort. Down in the ground, where it will :
ever freeze up, is a pump that comes as
BAR being perpetual motion as ever the
Philosopher dreamed of. 1t brings water l
ON, a creek som hundreds of yards of,
nd across Missoula creek, and supplies,
' means Of pipes, all parts of the build
6. In each three hours 1000 bottles are
'aked in a great tub and washed by the
idCuine AWdSlHdOle. WHICH CaUcneS
70 bottles, twelve at a time, throws a |
of shot into them, and then \
them into more comical shapes and
does than two gentleman cats can cut
hen thrown over a rope with tails tied i.
Within an arms reach of this
ashing machine is n for filling and q
rking. The bottles are filled eight at a
ne, and the machine is so arranged that
e tube cuts off the flow when the liquid
aches the neck of the bottle. Beside this
Her. is the corking instrument, which is
marvel OF cuteness and efficiency. In
nety minutes sixty-six dozen bottles are 4
ed, corked. wired and stood up like SOL =
RS on dress parade. Then they are
iced in q sort Of granite bath tub and =
AIMED at a temperature of so to SIS de-
'es, to fix the status OF the beer or other
uid permanently. The next step is to
aft the sparkling fluid with some friend, /
better far, fair lady.
n the Office OF the bottling house The
NER man was shown more bottles filled.
:ked labeled and made ready for market